Health Care

[GlottalGreekGeek]

The tobacco topic got me thinking about the whole rising-cost-of-health-care issue, and I want to know what the people here think. I don't know what the solution is to this problem, and while I do know some of the pros and cons of various approaches to health care, I also know that I am out of my depth here.

[liumx]

Honestly, I do not agree to put a price tag on life /living issues, a figure cannot determine the "value" of one's life, hence health. Anyway, "we" are so use to judge with figures, thus there are no escape unless one wants to live like a noble savage without any monetary concepts.
Well, some would say the body mass index, blood pressure, etc. are incicators of health. That's a scientific view point, I guess the savage cannot judge that too.
Of course I am not implying that "we" should go back to the pre-history which is impossible anyway, but I strongly oppose any attempt to "buy life" (Like impose a 16x higher price for the needy medicine such as high blood pressure control pill than anywhere else, or pay a killer a sum of money to 'take care' of someone).
I may not answer GGG or point directly to the topic, but I guess one can tolerate my "orthodox" viewpoint.

[Kasper]

I'm not exactly sure what this topic is aimed at, but I think the question is whether the government, i.e. the community at large, should raise money, i.e. tax, in order to provide financial assistance for individual health care related expensens. Please correct me if this is not what you meant GGG!

I've previously mentioned that I'm employed by a government law firm and I primarily deal with employee compensation claims, that is with people who allege they were injured at work and claim compensation for it. I say this only by means of background, not to try to give my ideas on this some greater validity.

Dealing with these claims for some time has really forced to accept the reality of how quicky people can become incapacitated by sudden incidents. One wrong step on the stairs or on/off the pavement and you may well fall fracturing your sacro-illiac joint. If so, you will mostly likely suffer potentially debilitating back pain for the rest of your life.
It has truly shocked me into a reality that perfectly normal, healthy, sensible people can be reduced to a life of pain (often followed by depression/anxiety) in the blink of an eye.

Should people then be forced to also be financially ruined by the high costs of health care? I don't think so. Anyone reading this can become crippled or otherwise injured within the next half hour from now by no fault of anyone. The same certainly goes for other illnesses. Again anyone, et ego, reading this may well suffer from cancer right now without realising it, without anyone's fault. I think we should accept this risk, that we suffer as individuals, as a community/nation as a whole.

The other side of this is that we ought to take responsibility for our actions which we know puts us at greater risk of injury, eg. smoking, not jumping off a cliff without checking how deep the water is below, wearing a helmet on a building site, etc.